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/^,THE CRISIS. 



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Keilt, Hedias & PiET, Pmntebs, Baitimom. 



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THE CRISIS 



THE CRISIS 



To TiiK Citizens of Maryland: 

The condition of public afiairs in oui country, is a suffi- 
cient reason lor any citizen to put forth his views for the 
consideration of his fellow citi/.ens; therefore I proceed to 
address you on the suhject. 

Before the articles of confederation of 1778 were adopted, 
the several colonies which formed that confederation were 
Free and Independknt States; and hy the second article of 
that compact, they stijmlatod that each State should retain 
its Soverei«^nty, Freedom and Independence, and every 
power, jurisdiction and right not therein and therebv ex- 
pressly delegated. 

Afterwards, wlien in 1787 the present Constitution for 
the United States was agreed upon, it was in order to form 
a more perfect union— establish justice, insure domestic 
tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the 
creneral welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty; and 
certain specified powers were delegated to the confederacy 
or government of the United States; and by the ninth and 
tenth articles of the amendments to the Constitution, it 
was declared explicitly that all powers not granted were 
reserved to the States or to the people. Equality between 



the States is the cardinal })rincip]e of the Constitution, and 
protection of rights its ohject. 

Every people liave a natural and inherent right to a 
civil government, and the primary object of civil govern- 
ment is the protection of the lights of its citizens and sub- 
jects. Recognizing the dogma of tlie unity of the human 
race, it lias always been the ])o]iey of our governments to 
extend the privileges of citizenship as far as the safety of 
the State would ])ermit, and to establish the political equal- 
ity of citizenship ; but perfect, social or political equality 
amongst all men never has existed, and never can exist. 
We cannot recognize the social or political equality of the 
negro with the white man ; the Creator has made the dis- 
tinction which now exists ; they are now an inferior species, 
and tlieir protection, as well as our own, requires that we 
should hold them in subjection. 

Allegiance is due by every people to the government 
under which tliey live, and protection is its correlative; 
whenever, therefore, protection of the rights of the citizens 
is not secured by the government, allegiance is forfeited, 
and it remains for the citizens to determine whether or not 
it is expedient to change the government which does not 
accomplish the object for which it was instituted. 

With these axioms in view, I will now proceed to ex- 
amine the past history and present condition of our confed- 
eracy, in relation to the rights of the Southern people and 
States. 

The government of the United States is strictly a confed- 
eracy with limited iuifliority, explicitly defined. Authority 
to regulate the internal affairs of any State was not dele- 
gated to the General Government, and consequently all 
such authority which civil government may rightfully ex- 
ercise, is reserved to each State separately, and to its citi- 



zens ; and Ity tlie provisions of tlio second section of the 
fourtli iiiticlc of tlie Constitution, persons held to service 
or hihor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into 
another, are to he delivered up on claim of the party to 
whom such service or lahor may he due. Yet we of thti 
South have experienced from 1790 to the present day, con- 
stant and vindictive annoyance from the peojjle, and from 
the State (lovernnients of the Northern sections of our con- 
federacy, first hy the presentation of petitions to Con|^ress 
for its interference with and abolition of Nej^ro Slavery in 
the Southern States ; and more recently hy violent resist- 
ance to the execution of the laws of Congress for the rendi- 
tion to their owners of runaway slaves — which resistance 
is avowed and sanctioned by legislative acts of the Northern 
States; and now, the ])eople of the Northern States, declar- 
ing the incompatibility of their institutions and system of 
labor with ours, have elected a President of the United 
States upon the principle explicitly avowed, of denying to 
the Southern States and their citizens, equal rights in the 
Territories of the United States, purchased hy the joint 
cfForts and means of all, although our rights have been 
solemnly adjudicated by the highest judicial tribunal of 
the country. 

The result of tlie late election will ])e to place all the 
Executive power of the General Government in the hands 
of those who have thus avowed "an irrepressible conliict" 
with the institutions and rights of the South. 

I submit, then, that the Northern States of this Con- 
federacy have broken the compact, and avowed a determi- 
nation to prevent us of the South from a peaceable enjoy- 
ment of our property, and an equal participation in our 
common rights under the Constitution. 

We do not complain that the General Government has 



6 

usurped authority not delegated; but we say that in the 
face of the attitude assumed by the North, the General 
Governraent is powerless for the protection of our rights. 
Protection is not given, and cannot be given, and Alle- 
giance, its correlative, is forfeited. I propose next to 
consider whether the time has arrived when it becomes 
necessary to dissolve the political bands which have here- 
tofore connected us with the people of the North. 

Some of the Southern States have proposed secession as 
the remedy ; but it is said that it is not lawful for any 
State to secede irom the Union. If by the term " lawful " 
it is meant that tliere is no legislative provision on the 
subject, I admit it — for it does not come within the scope 
of the legislative power of the Government; but I sub- 
mit, in the words of tlie great Commentator upon the laws 
of England, that whenever the emergency happen which 
justifies such a course, "the prudence of the times must 
provide new remedies upon new emergencies." The right 
of secession is included in the riglit of every people to have 
a civil government which protects the rights of its citi- 
zens. 

I am not unmindful of the dangers and much to be 
dreaded consequences which lie in the waJie of a dissolu- 
tion of this once glorious Union of ft>^Free and Indepen- 
dent States ; but the object of tliis Union was to establish 
justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the com- 
mon defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the 
blessings of liberty. If the equality of the States, and 
the equal and adjudicated rights of the Southern States, 
and of their citizens, are destroyed, or denied, or disre- 
garded and nullified by the Northern States and their 
citizens, then the very objects for the attainment of which 
the Union was formed are not realized ; and if the com- 



pact is broken in <i vital inattur l»y some ol Flie |i)iitit»H 
to it, those wliose rij^lifs arc tlms (lisiei^aitlcd, are absolved 
from any hirther cbiini ol" alle;^ianet' to u Govcrnnjent 
wbioh is powerless tor tlieir snj)p()rt. 

So tar I liav(» discussetl the irricvamcs w,- have <'nilur- 
ed, and wliich are still held np t(» our view, und tlrt^ii^bts ^^ 
and the remedy we bave in our defence. VVe ot" tbe South "^ 

are not tiie agj^rossors. Is it expedient lor us now to do 
justice to ourselves ? Fellow-citizens, we still hope for bet- 
ter tbinjjjs. We still hope that our brethren of the North 
will re-consider their action, — will repeal their unconsti- 
tutional le«;islative acts, — will distinctly recojjjnize our 
equal rij^hts in tiie common territory, and in all tliiiii^sdo 
us justice; and we humbly and sincerely pray the (tckI of 
nations tliat he will incline the hearts of our brethren to 
remember that we nre brethren, and that we have e<|ual 
rights under this Confederacy with themselves. If they 
will not lu'aiken fo our solemn a])peaK then wv say with ■^^^. 
the great patriaich, "Let there be no (juairel, I beseech 
thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen 
and thy herdsmen, for we are brethren. Behold, the whole 
land is before thee; depart from me, I pray thee. If thou 
wilt go to the left hand, 1 will take the right ; if thou 
choose the right hand, I will pass to the left. " 

Fellow-citizens of Maryland — I recommend you to be 
calm, to be forgiving, but to be firm — act not rashly. If 
our Northern brethren will now do us justice, forgive and 
forget the past ; but yield no more. Separation is better 

than subjugation or strife. o,, J jP^d-n* S. 

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